Poll

What do you think is the BEST medium mech for Intro Tech 3025 era?

Lynx-8Q
5 (3.8%)
Gladiator-4R
9 (6.9%)
Wolverine-6M
35 (26.7%)
Griffin-1S
9 (6.9%)
Hunchback-4P
6 (4.6%)
Hunchback-4G
4 (3.1%)
Trebuchet-5S
2 (1.5%)
Crab-20
11 (8.4%)
PhoenixHawk-1D
17 (13%)
PhoenixHawk-1K
1 (0.8%)
Vindicator-1R
12 (9.2%)
Vulcan-5T
2 (1.5%)
Hermes-2M
3 (2.3%)
Cicada-3C
0 (0%)
Assassin-21
2 (1.5%)
Other - Please Elaborate
13 (9.9%)

Total Members Voted: 66

Voting closed: 29 February 2020, 00:09:12

Author Topic: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025  (Read 14212 times)

VhenRa

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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #30 on: 24 February 2020, 23:09:17 »
No Starslayer 2C?  The nerf the -3C got to be late SW compliant annoyed me . . . but the -2C was supposedly what the Big MAC was using.

Uh... it has DHS and CASE.

Onion2112

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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #31 on: 25 February 2020, 06:36:27 »
I always liked the Enforcer, a Large Laser and AC/10 had great punch at moderate ranges especially against other mediums and it was easy to heat manage.

The Vindicator was similarly effective but with slightly longer range.

As mentioned before the Dervish is surprisingly good firstly in a supporting role, but has close punch if needed. although I never did like the SRM ammo in the arms.

My favored medium lance had at least 1 Dervish supporting several Enforcer types.

Speedbump

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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #32 on: 25 February 2020, 14:20:06 »
I went for the Wolverine-6M and Griffin-1S without hesitation as I've done well with both, then spent a while deliberating my third pick. While I'm a big fan of the Crab, I have to admit I've had better results with the Hunchback-4P that I eventually voted for. It's a blunt instrument, but I've seen it work well in a lot of lances.

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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #33 on: 25 February 2020, 16:55:41 »
Always loved the 6M and the Gladiator is like a better version of it.

But gotta respect the Hunchback 4J.

Decent damage at long range and nasty at close with 5 ML (only 3 less than the 4P) on average only does 1 point less than a 6M (if 4 out of 6 missiles hit).

Dave Talley

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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #34 on: 25 February 2020, 17:34:42 »

The Vindicator was similarly effective but with slightly longer range.

As mentioned before the Dervish is surprisingly good firstly in a supporting role, but has close punch if needed. although I never did like the SRM ammo in the arms.

My favored medium lance had at least 1 Dervish supporting several Enforcer types.


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My annoyance with the dervish is no hands, SRMs should be in torsos just like the LRMs
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Colt Ward

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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #35 on: 25 February 2020, 17:37:52 »
Or even better, wrist launchers!  Who does not want rockets launching from their wrists?

Paddle hands?  Bah . . .

Of course, mercs/pirates just 'frankenmech' it to place a pair of classic trio hands and move them to wrist launchers.  Extra points for mixing the hands between the trio!
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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #36 on: 25 February 2020, 17:57:36 »
The Phoenix Hawk epitomizes everything that is good about medium BattleMechs for me. Thus I've chosen the PXH-1D from your list. But truth be told, it's not an improvement over the regular PXH-1 version - in my eyes, the MGs amount to a heat neutral pair of crit seekers.

The 6M Wolverine is a close second, though it is a really wannabe heavy. And if you‘re not fighting in a phone booth, the standard 1N Griffin is a fearsome machine. Somehow I never liked the 1S, though it looks good on paper.
This is basically my opinion.  I have a particular soft spot for the Centurion-AL, but I realize that it’s more of a pocket heavy than a true medium.  Also shoutout to the Crab.  Fun, if rare and limited by its lack of jump jets.
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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #37 on: 25 February 2020, 19:26:48 »
3025 Wolfhound is missing, but voted anyway.

Daryk

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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #38 on: 25 February 2020, 19:27:33 »
The Wolfhound is a light 'mech, so it's not actually missing from this list.

Force of Nature

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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #39 on: 25 February 2020, 19:42:32 »
Doh! my bad. Nevermind...

Sartris

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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #40 on: 25 February 2020, 19:42:40 »
People forget it’s a light because it’s better than most 40 tonners  :))

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Daryk

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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #41 on: 25 February 2020, 19:44:48 »
Also true!  8)

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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #42 on: 26 February 2020, 01:37:48 »
It also wasn't invented till 3028, so like the Cronus would be excluded for that reason too.
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3053: Star Colonel Rexor Kerensky: The Silver Wolves

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TigerShark

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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #43 on: 26 February 2020, 22:01:29 »
It also wasn't invented till 3028, so like the Cronus would be excluded for that reason too.
The GLD-4R was extinct by that era, as well. Hadn't been produced in 300 years.
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CrossfirePilot

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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #44 on: 26 February 2020, 23:00:49 »
The GLD-4R was extinct by that era, as well. Hadn't been produced in 300 years.

Which is a shame, because it had everything I want in a 55 ton 5/8 mech.  PPC, SRM, MLs

TigerShark

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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #45 on: 27 February 2020, 01:48:04 »
Which is a shame, because it had everything I want in a 55 ton 5/8 mech.  PPC, SRM, MLs
It suffers from a pretty mean heat curve when jumping. But is otherwise one of the best of its era. It was made in the late 25th century, making my estimate way wrong. It hadn't been produced in 450 years. lol But in that time, it really would have had no competitors to match its abilities. One of those scenarios when the fluff just doesn't match up to the machine.
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Kovax

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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #46 on: 27 February 2020, 11:40:21 »
I've been a fan of the HER-2M for years.  Its 7/11 speed easily puts it into the rear arc of an opponent, with triple MLs to punch holes and a pair of MGs to refill those holes with crit-seeking lead.  The Flamer is useful for anti-infantry work, starting fires (always amusing), or delivering heat to an already overheated target instead of firing one of the MLs.  It can run and fire everything except either the Flamer or one ML without building heat, and its armor is pretty close to the limit for its tonnage.  I've taken on and taken down some really nasty heavies and assaults with these over the years, and consider it my favorite one-on-one medium duelist, as well being as a great scout-hunter and backstabber in larger battles.  The biggest down sides are that it has no long-range firepower at all, and that it's on the low end of the Medium chart, meaning less physical damage and lower maximum armor and structure limitations.

The standard PHX-1 likewise makes use of a pair of MGs to supplement its laser firepower without further overextending its heat, but that model is not in the poll, so I chose the well-armored -1K in spite of its lack of jump capability.  As for the -1D, jumping is great when you need it, but raises the to-hit numbers for your own shots just as much as it raises the opponents' shots at you, so it's not something I do often except to get out of bad situations, and the -1D lacks the MGs of the -1 or -1K; a good variant, but shy of greatness.

My third choice would have been the HBK-4J, rather than the -4G or -4P listed.  Packing the LRM compliment of a Whitworth or Dervish into its 50 ton frame while still mounting 5 of the 8 MLs of the -4P means that it's equally at home and dangerous as a fire-support design or as a brawler, and makes a perfect bodyguard unit for a fire support lance until the LRMs run out, at which point it advances to wreak havoc with the MLs in full energy zombie mode.  Incidentally, while a DV is slightly "better" than a WTH in a couple of respects, the WTH is superior to it per ton, and far cheaper for roughly comparable utility if cost is considered in a campaign.  Again, it's not in the poll.

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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #47 on: 27 February 2020, 11:57:26 »
Neither of which is available in 3025.

Sparky may or may not be around in 3025, it's never really stated when it was modified.
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Hellraiser

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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #48 on: 27 February 2020, 23:41:40 »
Sparky may or may not be around in 3025, it's never really stated when it was modified.

I was just going by MUL date of 3035
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Hellraiser

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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #49 on: 07 March 2020, 19:03:52 »
Thought I'd sort these to see where we ended up.


Wolverine-6M         35    (26.7%)
PhoenixHawk-1D      17    (13%)
Other - Please Elaborate   13    (9.9%)
Vindicator-1R         12    (9.2%)
Crab-20            11    (8.4%)
Gladiator-4R         9    (6.9%)
Griffin-1S            9    (6.9%)
Hunchback-4P         6    (4.6%)
Lynx-8Q            5    (3.8%)
Hunchback-4G         4    (3.1%)
Hermes-2M         3    (2.3%)
Trebuchet-5S         2    (1.5%)
Vulcan-5T            2    (1.5%)
Assassin-21         2    (1.5%)
PhoenixHawk-1K      1    (0.8%)
Cicada-3C            0    (0%)

15 Options + "Other"      131 Total Votes


Can't say I'm surprised by the 1st 2 places.

Some of the others though I am.

I love the Griffin myself for its better heat curve & range.
Would have thought the Cicada got some votes.

The Crab surprises me & the AC20-Back on the other hand I didn't think would even get the 4 it got.
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Greatclub

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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #50 on: 11 March 2020, 01:10:00 »
I'd say Griffin or steiner griffin, depending on what you have backing you or what you're backing.
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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #51 on: 14 March 2020, 11:08:34 »
Thought I'd sort these to see where we ended up.

The Crab surprises me & the AC20-Back on the other hand I didn't think would even get the 4 it got.

The Crab is an acceptable flashbulb. And to offer some defense of the latter four choices, the Hunchback-4G performs much better in objective-based scenarios, where people might not have the option of staying 10 hexes away at all times.

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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #52 on: 14 March 2020, 20:31:35 »
The Crab is an acceptable flashbulb. And to offer some defense of the latter four choices, the Hunchback-4G performs much better in objective-based scenarios, where people might not have the option of staying 10 hexes away at all times.
The Crab is surprisingly comparable to the HOP-4B Hoplite. Both carry the main guns of heavies, without the supporting firepower to back them. Both move at an appropriate pace for a mech carrying said weapons, with the heat efficiency to use them effectively. Both have appropriate armor for their weapon load, but the Hoplite certainly has an edge in that department. You can view the Crab as a pocket Ost, capable of working with similar cavalry mechs, but lacking the defensive firepower of the heavier mechs. The Hoplite has the main guns of an Orion, and actually outguns a Grand Dragon in that department.   

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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #53 on: 14 March 2020, 21:30:35 »
The Crab is surprisingly comparable to the HOP-4B Hoplite. Both carry the main guns of heavies, without the supporting firepower to back them. Both move at an appropriate pace for a mech carrying said weapons, with the heat efficiency to use them effectively. Both have appropriate armor for their weapon load, but the Hoplite certainly has an edge in that department. You can view the Crab as a pocket Ost, capable of working with similar cavalry mechs, but lacking the defensive firepower of the heavier mechs. The Hoplite has the main guns of an Orion, and actually outguns a Grand Dragon in that department.
I feel like the Crab should have had variants which complimented it, on a squad level. It has the weaponry to be a rifleman as part of a Lance, but is painfully weak up-close. That could/would be covered by Lancemates with a variety of weapons. Kind of like how the Catapult has an LRM-20 variant which could compliment the bog standard -C1.
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Daryk

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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #54 on: 15 March 2020, 04:29:46 »
"Pocket Ost" is a very apt description of a Crab, though it really is only down one (forward firing) Medium Laser in comparison.

Minemech

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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #55 on: 15 March 2020, 08:08:34 »
"Pocket Ost" is a very apt description of a Crab, though it really is only down one (forward firing) Medium Laser in comparison.
One of the neat things about the two is that you can deploy them differently based on weapon placement. The Osts are also boxers, whilst the Crab elects for field of fire. This is similar to the Grasshopper/Guillotine paradigm.

Daryk

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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #56 on: 15 March 2020, 08:20:16 »
Another great comparison!  :thumbsup:

CrossfirePilot

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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #57 on: 15 March 2020, 10:46:48 »

Been enjoying using the Vindy in HBS Battletech,
My annoyance with the dervish is no hands, SRMs should be in torsos just like the LRMs

I second this one, also why not just make it a single SRM4 in the torso?

Syzyx

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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #58 on: 15 March 2020, 12:36:42 »
I second this one, also why not just make it a single SRM4 in the torso?

Artifact of the rules of the time. When TRO: 3025 came out only SRM-2 launchers could use Infernos. The Dervish was designed to exploit infernos. Now that any launcher can use inferno ammunition the Dervish, and all those other SRM-2 mechs, look kinda silly.
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CrossfirePilot

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Re: Best INTRO tech MEDIUM mech in 3025
« Reply #59 on: 15 March 2020, 12:45:46 »
Yeah I do remember that rule. I remember using an Assassin with infernos just to make life miserable for people.

 

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